Kadcyla

Class: Antibody-drug conjugate targeted therapy. Kadcyla is a combination of the targeted therapy Herceptin (chemical name: trastuzumab) and the chemotherapy medicine emtansine. The emtansine is attached (conjugated) to the Herceptin.

Uses: Kadcyla typically is used to treat HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer that has previously been treated with Herceptin and a taxane chemotherapy.

How it’s given: Kadcyla is given intravenously.

Additional information: Emtansine, like some other chemotherapy medicines, disrupts the way cells grow. Emtansine isn’t a targeted medicine, which means it can affect healthy cells as well as cancer cells. Kadcyla was designed to deliver emtansine to cancer cells in a targeted way by attaching emtansine to Herceptin. Hercpetin then carries emtansine to the HER2-positive cancer cells.